Fire bosses ‘make mockery of consultation’ by sticking to cuts

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has to make cuts in its budget over the next four years as a result of Westminster-imposed austerity measures, and staged a series of meetings to discuss the situation.

The public and members of staff were also asked to submit written comments on four money-saving measures drawn up by senior officers and either give their support or make suggestions on how to save money in other ways.

As a result, 16 different ways forward were suggested, but each has been thrown out because the service claims they do not save enough cash, or will lead to reductions in emergency cover.

Officials from the Fire Brigades Union reacted angrily to the outcome yesterday and said members had “exhausted every other avenue” and would now consider taking industrial action over the way cuts were being handled.

The four cash-saving measures which are expected to be rubber-stamped by members of the brigades governing fire authority later this month, include plans which will lead to the loss of 140 firefighter jobs.

Of these, 32 are retained firefighters, who will be made redundant immediately under the closure of retained stations in Royston, near Barnsley and Mosborough in Sheffield.

A retained crew will also be lost in Edlington, near Doncaster.

The other 108 are so-called wholetime firefighters, and the brigade says those positions will be lost over the next four years as firefighters who retire are not replaced.

The way fire stations are staffed will also be changed under senior officers’ plans in a bid to make working arrangements more “efficient” and new stations will be built to merge crews and save cash.

John Gilliver the South Yorkshire branch secretary of the FBU said the fact that senior officers had “ploughed on” with their original ideas made a mockery of the consultation process and had left his members furious.

He added: “Less than two weeks ago we pointed out that the brigade had reserves of £15m against its total annual revenue budget which stands at £60m.

“The fire authority has also agreed a 3.95 per cent increase in council tax, which means people will pay more and get less from the service.

“This is not about saving money, it is about an ideology of how they want to run the service. They should use the reserves and stop the cuts.

“We are getting reports back from our members who are saying that the current strategy is making their job more and more difficult to do and that they are prepared to take some form of action if the management do not change from this madcap course.”

A spokesman from the South Yorkshire Brigade said last night: “We thank everyone who has taken the time to give us their views. We have given full consideration to all the alternative proposals put forward.

“Where relevant, we have used computer software to help us to analyse them and compare them to our own proposals.

“We believe that none of the alternative proposals provide both the necessary level of emergency fire cover with the same level of savings.

“Our recommendation to the Authority is that they approve the proposals originally submitted to them in October.

“We don’t want to make these changes but, faced with a likely £10m funding cut, we believe these proposals will enable us to reduce our budget with the minimum impact on the public.”

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